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Video: Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Denver closes after 63 years

Neighborhoods change. Children grow up. Congregations get older. And churches close. After 63 years, that is what happened to Good Shepherd Lutheran Church.

Many members of the congregation have been there since the beginning. They consider each other family, and had a hard time saying goodbye at their last service.

Pastor Dena Williams said this is happening to small churches everywhere. Neighborhoods go through changes like the southwest Denver neighborhood where Good Shepherd is located — the area shifted to mainly Catholic over the years. When members of the current congregation moved or passed away, there were simply no other people to fill their seats.

The congregation maintains many of them will try to move on together to another church–as one big family. Video by Anne Herbst.